Hugo Chavez: not that popular. Of course, Venezuela's entire economy rests on the price of oil, and like other oil producers, he's going to be a lot shorter of money in the near future. Chavez, of course, has used the combination of oil money with brutality and chicanery towards the opposition and electoral processes to stay atop Venezuela. With the money that supplies the carrot less plentiful, expect more of the stick.

Yeah, whatever. Given the mixed results of the election, an equally accurate description would be, 'Hugo Chavez, still popular' (and a helluvalot more popular in his country than Bush is with his citizenry). Nevertheless, the electoral success of the political opposition should (but won't, of course) put to rest any notion of Chavez as totalitarian dictator.
There's certainly an argument to be made for Chavez' mismanagement of aspects of the Venezuelan economy, particularly the failure to use oil revenue to develop a domestic manufacturing sector. On the other hand, as someone who most likely defends the neoliberal economic policies embraced by every American president beginning with and since Ronald Reagan, policies that have gutted our own manufacturing capacity and enabled a deregulated financial industry to leave Wall Street and Main Street potholed (not to mention your vigorous defenses of aggressive war, illegal surveillance, torture, rendition, and Rovian electoral shenanigans), you're probably a little exposed yourself to be commenting on Chavez' shortcomings.

Posted by: rs at
November 25, 2008 6:32 PM

rs, it says volumes that you defend Chavez and prefer him to Reagan or Bush.

Cough.
The treatment the HRW officials received at the hands of authorities in Caracas is indeed deplorable. It's troubling that law enforcement in Venezuela finds it necessary to mimic the behaviour of federal, state, and city law enforcement in their treatment of press and demonstrators in Denver and Minneapolis during the Democratic and Republican conventions.
Pot, meet kettle.